Arts & Culture

The Big Jewcy: Hannah Carlen, Music Industry Macher

Hannah Carlen is a true mover and shaker in the Music Industry. Aside from her gig at Distiller Promo making sure your favorite bands are heard on the airwaves, Hannah is a booker for Rontoms in Portland Oregon, and is also … Read More

Hannah Carlen is a true mover and shaker in the Music Industry. Aside from her gig at Distiller Promo making sure your favorite bands are heard on the airwaves, Hannah is a booker for Rontoms in Portland Oregon, and is also helping out with booking at Berbati’s Pan, she manages one band (Dirty Mittens!), and is currently writing a book about Portland food carts. With such a crazy life, you’d think she’d be too busy for us, but she took some time to chat, and hopefully the next time she’s on the east coast, we’ll be able to snag her for a beer.

When do you realize you wanted to get into the music business? I don’t think I really knew I wanted to be in the music business until I got into it. I played a little music business make-believe in high school (managing a ska band, natch), and was a music director in college. In hindsight, of course I was headed for the biz — I worked at a record store, interned all over the place, alla that — but when I opted to move to Portland, I was as ready to become a barista as anything else.

Any favorite memories from your career? Yowch! All my answers are impossibly cheesy, (friends I’ve made, milestones I’ve hit, bands I’ve worked with that I adore, etc.), so for your collective sakes and mine, I’ll refrain from even answering. I’m lucky to already have as many favorite memories as I do. (See? Couldn’t resist a little cheese in there.)

What is your favorite Jewish Music Moment?The Judy Solomon Experience! Bekah Zietz (Subpop) gets these incredible voicemails from her Grandma, Judy Solomon, and back in 2006 my boyfriend chopped them into techno songs — two songs spun from one epic voicemail. We did a little listening party at sxsw and everything. It’ the finest in 21st century Jewish Music, I assure you. The Judy Solomon Experience is the truth.

If you were going to be banished to a desert island, just you and a record player, and you could bring 3 albums, what 3 albums would you bring and why? I’m 100% sure they’d be: R.E.M. Green, Dirty Three Cinder, and The Ultimate Otis Redding. They are my favorite records, without question.

Boxers or Briefs? Blackberry or iPhone? Beatles or Stones? Boxerbriefs, iPhone, R.E.M., Portland Trailblazers, The Giants, cats over dogs, New York over LA.